We’re delighted to open applications for this new community fund. Got an idea you always wanted to get up and running? This might be your opportunity! You can apply for up to £1,000 to support the final year PGR journey.

The purpose of this community fund is to “support engineering and physical science PGRs through the final stage of their study”. At the heart of this fund is ‘community’ and supporting PGR researchers in completing their research studies.

This is initially a one-off project; applications will open on Wednesday 4 March 2026 and be open until Wednesday 1 April 2026. After this time a review of the applications will take place, and you will be informed of the final decision.

Project ideas

We’re open to any ideas you think will support the EPS PGR community, and we’d rather hear from you with your ideas, but to get started here are some ideas:

  • Social activities
  • Specific training opportunities
  • Lab to Lab collaboration opportunities

How to apply

To apply, complete this online form. The deadline for applying is 23:59 on Wednesday 1 April 2026.

Criteria

You must be either a current member of staff or a PGR student in your final year of registration working within the remit of the Engineering or Physical Sciences Research council at the University of Bath.

You can apply for up to £1,000 per project, but the project idea must fit into the criteria below.

Your project idea must:

  • Be a completely new idea (a pilot) and not something that is already running or has run in the past.
  • Be specifically for the benefit of postgraduate doctoral researchers.
  • Provide benefit to the PGR engineering and physical science community at the University of Bath.
  • Have permission from the relevant University authorities to go ahead (for example if you need space, storage, facilities on campus etc).

Things you need to consider for your application:

  • Clearly explain what your project is, what is involved in setting it up and how you plan on doing this.
  • Clearly explain how your project meets the objective of ‘supporting EPS PGRs through their final stage of their study’.
  • Detail how much funding you need – you don’t have to apply for the full £1,000 – please only apply for what you need. You will need to break down exactly how you will spend the funding you are asking for.
  • PGR students will need to agree with their supervisors that the funds can be transferred to them (no funds can be directly transferred to students).
  • Detail how you plan on evaluating your project to measure the success.

The community fund will not fund:

  • Permanent staff salaries.
  • A project where the funding requested would solely be used for salary costs.
  • Travel costs or fees (for example to conferences).
  • Projects that directly raise funds for other charities.
  • Purchase of equipment.
  • Projects only for staff benefit.

Other funding requirements:

  • You can only apply once, with one project idea.
  • You can only apply to cover temporary staff costs but these costs cannot make up the entirety of your project.
  • The funding must be spent by 31st August 2026.
  • At the end of your project you will be asked to confirm your total spend and if any of the project money is unspent you must return it.
  • You will be required to keep in regular contact with the Doctoral Landscape Manager, to review how your project is progressing, and complete an evaluation form at the end.

Selection Process

Applications will be considered after the deadline. Projects will be reviewed and a decision based on:

a) The number of total applications and

b) How your application meets the criteria